The sorrowful story of Palestine and the excruciating sadness felt because of the oppression against this patient, enduring, and resistant nation, truly distresses any individual who seeks freedom, truth, and justice; it thrusts an agonizing pain and suffering upon one’s heart.
The history of Palestine is full of ups and downs, marked by the cruel occupation of that region, the rendering of millions of individuals homeless, and the courageous resistance of the heroic [Palestinian] people. An intelligent quest through history shows that no people, during any era of history, have ever been subject to such pain, suffering, and cruelty. It has never been witnessed that a country is completely occupied in a supra-regional plot, that a people are driven away from their homes and their country, and that another group of people from remote areas of the world are brought there in order to replace that nation. It has never been witnessed that a real entity is ignored and that a fake entity takes its place.
But this is another dirty page in history which will be closed with the permission and assistance of Allah the Exalted, just like other dirty pages in history: "Falsehood is bound to perish” [The Holy Quran, 17: 81], and He says “My servants the righteous shall inherit the earth” [The Holy Quran, 21: 105].
When a nation reaches that point where there is no other way but to die courageously, nothing can stand in its way. Neither the Zionists power --with all of its military equipment--nor the political and economical powers of Zionists supporters--the US--can be effective [against a strong resistance]. The day they deceived the Palestinian nation via negotiations, or so-called "privileges," is over. It has been proven that negotiating with the enemy is useless. Today, the Palestinian nation has recognized this and takes action. Palestinian mothers, youth, men and women, are all involved.
May 30, 2002
The issue of Palestine is one of the most important issues or the most important issue of the Islamic world; the pressures on the Palestinian people and the troubles they go through are almost completely ignored. It seems to me that the Western Zionist media empire can be defeated; it is possible to make this a reality; if we all try, we can accomplish this. The defeat of the Zionists during the soft war is possible, just as the Zionists were defeated in the hard war. As you saw, the Zionist regime was defeated. In Lebanon, the Zionist regime was forced to retreat: it was forced to admit its failure, while everyone thought it was an invincible regime. In the soft war, also, the Zionist regime and their agents can be defeated.
There are a number of critical issues that I will refer to, which, of course, all exists on the agenda of this conference. One of these topics is in regards Palestine: the question of Palestine must not be overlooked for a second; the issue of Palestine is an extremely important issue. What has happened in Palestine in the past seventy or eighty years is, I think, unprecedented throughout history. As far as we know, such a thing has never happened anywhere: not in our own time; neither in times close to our era; nor in any period of history. What is this event? The event is that they created three incidents for one nation. They first occupied their land and usurped it; well, in some other places around the world, lands had been occupied by foreigners, this is not unprecedented; however, besides this occupation, there was a mass exile. Millions of Palestinians are living in exile today, expelled from their own homes and from their own cities and country. They are displaced and far away from home, they are not allowed to go back; this was number two: a mass exile of millions of people.
Thirdly, these two incidents happened alongside events of mass murder; a large number of people were massacred at the beginning: women, men and children in towns and villages were murdered. A massive crime against humanity was committed: this is the case of Palestine. That is, occupation, exile, and the massacre on a nation—not just one human, or a limited few, but an entire nation. Well, this is an unprecedented case in history. They displaced a people, from let's say one region to another, or massacred them, but it happened in their own homes and in their own country. What does this mean to expel an entire nation from their own country? For decades, those who were expelled from Palestine, themselves or their fathers, have been living in camps! This has not happened anywhere else in the world. This is an extraordinary issue. This is unprecedented historical oppression. This is, undoubtedly, unprecedented historical oppression. We have a duty, that is to say, commonly recognized by all Islamic religions: in such cases, we must intervene, defend and defend with every possible method. This must be realized finally, and I believe that this struggle against the Zionist regime will bear fruit, I firmly believe in this.
